Not all happy with new Internet connectivity

Wednesday

Dec 31, 2008 at 12:01 AMDec 31, 2008 at 8:50 PM

Stephen Kulik, the state representative from the tiny western Massachusetts town of Worthington (population 1,156), has finally lost an unwelcomed distinction among his 200 colleagues in the Legislature.

Jessica Collier

Stephen Kulik, the state representative from the tiny western Massachusetts town of Worthington (population 1,156), has finally lost an unwelcomed distinction among his 200 colleagues in the Legislature.

Until September, Kulik was the only legislator who had to rely on dial-up Internet service. Now, thanks to an effort by Verizon to bring the 21st century to the state's hill towns, the Democratic rep has DSL.

Not exactly cutting edge, but still an improvement for him and others in dozens of western Massachusetts towns now getting the new service.

"It's made a big difference in the kind of work I can do from home," he said.

Verizon's recent completion of a 24-town expansion of its high-speed Internet service is the first halting step in a private-public quest to wire all of Massachusetts to broadband Internet, a service now seen as a necessity rather than a luxury.

Much of the hope for the future rests with the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, created by a law signed in August by Gov. Deval Patrick. The institute has three years to spend $40 million intended to forge public-private partnerships to establish broadband infrastructure.

Sharon Gillett, commissioner of the state Department of Telecommunications and Cable, has likened the legislation to a plan used by Vermont to increase broadband access in rural areas.

Under the Vermont initiative, called Northlink, the state is paying to install a network of fiber-optic cable to which private companies will then connect their equipment, creating the kind of public-private model to which Massachusetts aspires.

But for now, the new Broadband Institute is moving at a pace that could not be described as "high speed."

Although the legislation establishing it was signed in August, the first board meeting and budget approval wasn't held until October. Four governor-appointed positions on the board have yet to been assigned, and a program manager has yet to be hired.

The institute has put out a "call for solutions," an attempt to identify opportunities in setting up broadband infrastructure, according to a press release. The institute has not yet committed to a specific kind of broadband technology such as fiber optic, DSL or wireless.

After enough information is collected, the institute will put out requests for proposals to interested companies.

In the meantime, it has been up to Verizon to move ahead on faster connectivity for the isolated hill towns of the west. The broadband that Verizon set up in 24 western Massachusetts towns represented 3/4 of the 32 communities that only had dial-up. Verizon spokesman Phil Santoro estimates the company has covered an average of 70 percent of households in those 24 towns.

"It's a function of the technology," Santoro said.

The technology has some drawbacks. DSL connections start from a central Verizon facility. If a house is within three miles of that office, it has access to the Internet. A household gets the option for faster service - 3 megabits per second for an extra $10 a month - if it's within a half mile of the terminal.

The rest of the service runs at 768 kilobytes per second, which is 21 times faster than dial-up. But some say it is still too slow.

Although state Rep. Denis Guyer, D-Dalton, is a strong supporter of Verizon's efforts, ("You're leaps and bounds ahead of where you were," he said), he would like to see the faster service provided by new fiber-optic cables that are being connected across the eastern part of the state.

"This isn't like we're getting the best, the newest technology that Verizon has to offer," Guyer said.

The discontent extends to other western Massachusetts residents who remain outside the DSL loop. Complaints have been coming from the 30 percent of households not covered by Verizon's new DSL broadband.

Since houses are often spread out in the lightly populated hill towns, this means that a chunk of each town will not get the service. This has led to some disappointment among people who expected to have access to the town's new high-speed Internet. Many blame the state.

Guyer said his office gets frequent calls from constituents who think the state is responsible.

"They (Verizon) have created a problem where our constituents think that the broadband bill is not working," he said.

In fact, the broadband bill that established the Massachusetts Broadband Institute is unrelated to Verizon's recent work.

While Verizon has refused to release the cost of the broadband extension, the company has said that it put $200 million into its Massachusetts network this year, which includes other expansions such as FiOS and TV.

Santoro could not estimate the amount of money it would cost to wire one town, because it would vary widely depending on the town, he said.

Verizon also won't release the number of new DSL connections it has set up in western Massachusetts households.

While the company isn't receiving any public funds for its work, the passage of broadband legislation did entice Verizon to begin its project. Santoro said that it "certainly played a part."

He said Verizon is hoping to be involved when the broadband institute begins its work.

"We are looking forward to see what plan the governor's staff develops," he said.

Jessica Collier is a student reporter in the Boston University Statehouse journalism program.